The son of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was sworn in on Thursday, completing decades of efforts to bring the family back to power in this Southeast Asian nation.
At a ceremony held at the National Museum in Manila, 64-year-old Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. commemorated and honored his father’s 20-year reign marred by corruption and abuses.
“I once knew a man who saw how little has been accomplished since independence… but he did it,” Marcos Jr said after the inauguration ceremony.
“So is your son. You will hear no apology from me,” he added.
Marcos Jr. easily won last month’s election, leading to the biggest victory for a presidential candidate since the popular uprising that overthrew his father in 1986.
He replaced Rodrigo Duterte in the presidency, is very popular in the country, but has a dubious international reputation due to the extremely fierce war on drugs.
More than 15,000 police, soldiers and coast guards were deployed in Manila for the ceremony, which was attended by Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan and Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband, US Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff.
Before his inauguration ceremony, Duterte received Marcos Jr. at the presidential palace in Malacañán, where the dictator’s family had to hastily flee before fleeing into exile 36 years ago.
Once rivals—Duterte described Marcos Jr as weak—the two families allied for the election, where the dictator’s son campaigned alongside the daughter of current former president, elected vice president Sara Duterte.
With rising prices and an economy devastated by Covid-19, the new president’s priorities are to contain inflation, stimulate growth and increase food production.
He decided to become the Minister of Agriculture to personally take over the management of the troubled sector.
“Under my command, we will go too far,” he promised Thursday, without revealing details of how he plans to achieve the goals.
On the international stage, the new president plans to defend the Philippines’ rights in the disputed South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost entirely.
“Everybody’s Friend, Nobody’s Enemy”
Unlike Duterte, who is moving away from the United States and approaching China, Marcos Jr has declared that he wants a balanced relationship with two powers vying for influence in the Pacific.
Last month, he defined his international policy as “everybody’s friend, nobody’s enemy”.
Marcos Jr. launched an extensive disinformation campaign on social media before the election to restore his family’s image and cause 20 years of corruption and human rights abuses to be forgotten.
Many expect “Bongbong” to be less violent and more predictable than Duterte, but activists and the church fear that Duterte will use his crushing victory to bolster the president’s power.
“Marcos Jr’s refusal to admit past abuses and mistakes, praising the dictatorship as the ‘golden years’, makes it very likely that he will continue his dark legacy throughout his tenure,” the left alliance Ms Bayan warned.
Marcos Jr. has appointed nearly every member of his government, but analysts believe the most influential adviser will be his wife, Louise.
And while Duterte supports the fierce drug war that is killing thousands of people, especially the poor, it is unlikely to implement it aggressively.
“The Philippines’ political elite is ready to turn the page on violence in the drug war,” said Greg Wyatt of PSA Philippines Consulting. “The war on drugs has already received enough negative attention.”
source: Noticias
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